Par la Lumière de la Lune
by magickalfantasy
Summary: A tale of hope, longing, fear, loyalty, and a litte bit of action and romance. Something incredible is waiting to be uncovered.
1. Dolce Amore

First attempt at a story on here. I used to write fanfiction, but broke the habit because my stories always got too cliche and sappy. This is something I just wrote out of thin air. I had no plan for it but if you all like it, then I hope I can keep it to your liking.

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CHAPTER 1: Dolce Amore

"_Just Fear me, Love me, do as I Say, and I will be your __slave__."_

Sarah awoke, beads of sweat running down her face. There was that dream again; the memory of her last moments in the Goblin King's presence. She took a deep breath and switched on her bedside light.

"Oh, Hoggle! Sir Didymus, Ludo? Where are you? I need you." "We're right here, Sarah."

Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo all appeared beside her on her bed.

"Sarah sad?" Asked dear, concerned Ludo.

Sarah sighed, defeated. "I don't know what's come over me! I keep having these reoccurring nightmares…dreams…I don't know…about Jareth."

She fell hard on her pillow as Ambrosias curled up beside her. "What am I to do?"

"Sarah…things have been going on in the Underground lately; Ever since your departure, in fact."

"Yes, My Lady, his Majesty, the King, has been very distressed."

"Jareth angry Sarah."

Sarah picked up the small red book that guided her through her previous experience. It was as if she was living the play that she was a star in at school. Since her experience, her rehearsals had gotten better, but it wasn't the same. What was she thinking? Of course it wasn't the same!

"Do you know what he's so upset about?" She looked to Hoggle, expecting and answer. He was involved in Jareth's attempts to manipulate her, after all.

"W-well why are you asking me?" He huffed and put his hands to his sides. "I don't know nothin' about what's going on up there! He ain't told me anything!"

"Well, I don't suppose he would." She said thoughtfully. "After all, you had betrayed him, hadn't you, Hogwart?" She smirked lightly; she knew getting his name wrong irritated him.

"It's H-O-G-G-L-E, Hoggle! And that has nothin' to do with it! It's not my fault that he doesn't want you to know that the kingdom is going to ruin without His Majesty's wise decision-making and all because you never loved him!" Hoggle clapped his hands to his mouth in sheer amazement at his abrupt outburst.

Sir Didymus looked on in astonishment, Ambrosias and Sarah both lifted their heads up in surprise, and Ludo was in pure bewilderment. Hoggle was known for messing up sometimes, but they never expected him to say something like this.

"Oh, damn you Jareth! And damn me too. I'm sorry Sarah. I didn't mean that."

Sarah simply blinked. It was so uncharacteristic of Jareth to be so…humble. She never pictured Jareth as anything near human in any right. Let alone loving in such a pure aspect. Could it be that Jareth did love her? She thought back to two nights ago when she'd told Toby that story. _But what nobody knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl and had given her certain powers._ It was the only part of the story that she'd told Toby that didn't come true. She fell again back onto her pillow and threw a stuffed animal against the ceiling.

"Oh, how can I have been so blind? Hoggle, I think you're right!" Frustrated, Sarah pressed her pillow against her face. "What can I do, Hoggle?" She sighed and removed the pillow.

There was no way that she was going to go back to that castle again. Jareth was a crude, mean, angry thing that she wanted to have nothing to do with! Suddenly a cry reverberated throughout the house. Sarah sighed and got up.

"Oh, I'll be back." Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo, and Ambrosias all nodded their heads while Sarah tended to Toby.

Sarah walked through the hallway. Her father and stepmother were here, but Sarah had lately taken the liberty of taking extra care of Toby whether her parents were home or not. She wanted to get closer to her brother no matter what the cost. She opened the door and peered inside then walked over to Toby's crib.

"Alright, alright; now quiet down." She bounced Toby up and down. "I'll never wish you away to the goblins again. I promise."

She smiled lightly and hummed a song to him. Before she realized it, she was humming the song that she and the Goblin King danced to at the masquerade and was dancing with Toby under the moonlight that creeped through the window. A pair of large mismatched eyes peered at her through the window. They were filled with love, anger, and sadness. When Toby and quieted down, Sarah smiled lightly; but then she got a very odd, eerie feeling. A feeling of such that if she were to leave Toby alone in here, something may happen. She bit her lip softly and carried Toby into her room where her friends were bunched together talking in low whispers. When they heard Sarah approach, they stopped their chatter and looked at her.

"My Lady, we have an idea!" Sir Didymus said, brightly. When he got a look at Toby though, he stopped talking. "Toby's going to spend the night with us." She said quietly.

She sat on her bed and laid Toby softly on the bed. She smiled at her sleeping little brother, then looked at her friends and talked in a low whisper. "So what are we going to do? I mean, what exactly is going on in the Underground that has Jareth so distracted? Other than me…" She added, softly.

"Well, we're not sure exactly, Sarah. But Jareth has a lot of concerns. There's some sort of threat hanging above the Underground. Jareth's forces have been asking what to do, but Jareth refuses to answer. It's as if he wants the Underground to disintegrate. As if, there's nothing worth ruling over if he can't have you." Hoggle explained, hesitantly. Sarah shifted uneasily.

"It's not your fault, My Lady!" Sir Didymus added quickly. "It's just that, as of now, His Majesty is very lost. He's confused, and very hurt. He doesn't know why, for the only reason he allowed you into the Underground is because he knew that you didn't mean to get rid of My Young Lord." He said, meaning Toby.

"So he's mad because I chose my little brother, my flesh and blood, over him." She said, bitterly.

She had the urge to go back to her old habits. _It's not fair._ The words hung over her head for a moment before she shook them away. No. She would just be playing into his hand. "I won't go back." She said, after a moment of silence. The group seemed to breathe an empty, silent sigh together.

"Sarah, if our world is destroyed we'll be destroyed too." Hoggle admitted. He didn't want to play that card, but Sarah had left them with no other choice.

"Sarah…" Ludo said sadly.

"It's too soon! It seems as if I only just came back, now you want me to leave again? What if I can't come back again? What will my family think? What will Toby think? Will all of my fighting have been in vain?" She wanted to cry.

She wanted to break free and be rid of all the pain and frustration. But she also wanted to keep her friends. She didn't want them to disappear. And she most certainly did not want to face Jareth again. The last encounter was played out. It followed a script. This time, it wouldn't. This time, Sarah would be all alone. She didn't know if she could do it. And want about this mysterious entity that was threatening her world? Yes, her world. She knew that she couldn't belong anywhere else, but she also knew that she couldn't face a new one. She wished that the worlds could just merge together, but she knew it was impossible. She didn't even know about this danger. She lifted Toby up gently and leaned against Ludo. The owl was now peering in through her window listening to the conversation. Was Sarah really coming back? His heart leaped for a moment; a one happy moment in time.

"What can I do?" She said quietly; as if condemning herself to her fate. "And what will we do about my parents?"


	2. The Proud, Angry Fool

Ok. So I still don't know where I'm going with this. But this is basically Jareth's point of view of the first chapter. Like I said. I have no plans for this story yet. I'm just writing it off the top of my head. Wanna give me an idea? I'll turn it into a story and I'll so totally give you credit for the idea!

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CHAPTER 2: The Proud, Angry Fool

Jareth bent over the sleeping form of Sarah. He didn't know why, but she was all he could think about. He brought his fingers together and a crystal ball formed. He whispered some sort of enchantment into it. It brought back the memory of their last meeting. As well as his offer, and placed the crystal ball next to Sarah's head while she slept. He quietly exited the room through the window.

"_Just Fear me, Love me, do as I Say, and I will be your __slave__."_

He watched through the window in his owl form as Sarah awoke with a start. The crystal ball disappeared as silently as it came, having done its job. The first thing Sarah did was call on her…friends. The word was sickening to his ears. Jareth had no room for friends. No time for companionship of any kind. He had more important matters to attend. Sarah seemed exasperated. Jareth could hear their conversation. Dreams? Nightmares? He didn't know the meaning of these things and doubted the lowly citizens of the Goblin Kingdom would as well. But then, judging by their reactions, they must have known more about these…abnormal things than he gave them credit for. Then he heard the question.

"Do you know what he's so upset about?" Sarah asked…what was his name, Haggle?

"W-well why are you asking me?" He huffed and put his hands to his sides. "I don't know nothin' about what's going on up there! He ain't told me anything!" What a brilliant lie. If Jareth weren't an owl at the moment, he would have smirked.

"Well, I don't suppose he would." She said thoughtfully. "After all, you had betrayed him, hadn't you, Hogwart?" She smirked lightly; she knew getting his name wrong irritated him.

"It's H-O-G-G-L-E, Hoggle! And that has nothin' to do with it! It's not my fault that he doesn't want you to know that the kingdom is going to ruin without His Majesty's wise decision-making and all because you never loved him!" Jareth jumped up and flapped his wings. Insulted that this…Hoggle, who was still in service to Jareth, would reveal this in such a detestable way. Well, Jareth had half a mind just to fly in that room and send this goblin to the cleaners!

Wait, stop! This was not the way to deal with this situation. Yes, it was Jareth's plan all along for this Hoggle fellow to reveal this to Sarah, maybe not in quite the way he did, but his plans were running smoothly enough. The others looked on at Hoggle in surprise and amazement. Yes Sarah. This was your fault. You made me like this. You said I fell in love with you, and you were right. Love; Such a pathetic human emotion. The Goblin King couldn't stand the very idea of it. But it was true. Such a pity.

A cry rang through the house, temporarily pulling Jareth away from his thoughts for the time being. It was the baby. Jareth flew over to the window of the baby's room and looked in. Once Sarah left him alone, Jareth would take him. If that was the only way he could get Sarah back to his kingdom, then so be it. But then he was once again pulled from his thoughts. He listened as well as he could through the glass. Sarah was humming their song. She danced with the baby as if she knew exactly what she was doing; and she did it divinely. Maybe there was more that she remembered from their encounter than he thought? Damn it, she's taking him back to her room! Annoyed, he flew back around the house and watched through Sarah's window. They still hadn't noticed that it was open.

When he heard the conversation between the friends, he couldn't help but let out a smile. So Hoggle did his job and got them to convince Sarah to come back. But was it real? Was Sarah really going to come back to him?


	3. Figlitetta Divin

Par la Lumière de la Lune

_"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you; and you can have everything that you want."_

She heard the voice that she knew so well, and twitched. It was a small twitch, something that no one would notice if they didn't look close enough. But her friends noticed it.

"Sarah…is there something wrong…?" Hoggle asked timidly.

The group was just deciding on what to do about Jareth when Sarah heard him. A distant memory ran through her head; just for a moment.

"You mean you didn't hear it?" Sarah asked.

"Hear what, My Lady?" Sir Didymus asked.

"N-nevermind. It must have simply been my imagination. Now what do you say we do?"

The friends peered at each other cautiously. Jareth was already up to something and if they didn't act soon, something might happen.

"Well, we think that you should stay here for awhile—" Hoggle was cut off by Sarah.

"But you said that you needed me to come back, or something would happen!" Sarah argued.

"It will, My Lady, if you don't come back at all. Once His Majesty knows that you plan on coming back, he will be able to focus solely on the protection of our world."

"But why does he need me there? I'm not a soldier! I couldn't fight whatever is hurting your world! I could barely escape the Labyrinth! I wouldn't have escaped it if it weren't for you all! What if I can't come back again? What if something happens?" She was on the verge of tears now.

"Sawah…" It was Ludo who spoke.

Ludo came up behind Sarah and gave her a hug. He didn't like seeing his friend hurt or upset.

"Will woks help, Sawah?"

Sarah couldn't help but laugh lightly through the tears. No, she couldn't leave her friends like this; Ever. No matter what her intentions had been before. They needed her right now. She looked at her calendar. Spring Break had only just begun; the day of her first journey to the Labyrinth, in fact. She could spare the two weeks in the magickal land of the Labyrinth.

"No, Ludo. Rocks won't help me right now." Ludo looked sad at first, but Sarah kissed his cheek and he smiled. "But thank you for caring, Ludo."

"Sawah fwiend." Ludo said in his own matter-of-factly voice.

Sarah took a deep breath and smiled. "Yes Ludo. We're friends, all of us. I'll do whatever I can to help. But I need to ask again. What are we going to do about Toby? And my parents?" She couldn't hide the worry in her voice.

"We'll think of something. That is why we need you here for now. So we have time to come up with a story as to why you and the Young Master will be gone." Sir Didymus covered his mouth and was wide-eyed.

"What?" Sarah was standing up now. "Why Toby? Why does Toby need to come too? Hasn't he been through enough?" She couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. When were they planning on telling her that Toby had to come? Her parents would never allow it. Never! Neither would Sarah, for that matter.

"M-My Lady!" Sir Didymus said quickly, nervously. "Can't we think this through?"

"What needs to be thought through, Sir Didymus? Toby is not coming! That's my final word!"

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sarah."_ A voice from long off seethed. Everyone, including Sir Didymus jumped at the voice.

Sarah stood up on her bed bravely. "Do you hear me, Goblin King? There is no way that I'm bringing Toby back to you. No way, no chance! You lost, I won, and that's the end!"

It was nearly eight o' clock in the morning. A knock sounded at the door making the friends jump once again.

"Sarah? Is something wrong? We can hear you shouting? Where's Toby?" Irene said from the door.

Sarah walked to the door and stood in front of her stepmother with a nervous smile. "Oh, did I wake you guys up? I'm sorry. I was rehearsing lines from the play. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I thought some light reading would be good for me. Toby got fussy last night and I couldn't get him to sleep so I brought him in here with me."

Irene looked pleased with the answer and walked away. "Just try to be quieter or you'll wake him up." Sarah nodded after her and sank to the floor with a sigh of relief. Sir Didymus sat away from Sarah, looking ashamed with himself. Sarah didn't look happy with him either. "I won't let Toby go back there." She said quietly; the friends understood. Sir Didymus, Ludo, and Hoggle all looked at each other decided that it was probably better to leave for now and let the information sink in before they tried to talk to her again.

"We'll come back with more information, Sarah. Until then, go to libraries, bookstores, do whatever you can to find out more information on this threat. All we know about them is that they like darkness, black skin, and pointy ears. Since Jareth doesn't seem to care about defeating them right now, we have no other leads. We don't even know why Jareth needs you and Toby, Sarah." Hoggle said, sadly.

"And remember, Sarah, if you should need us."

"I'll call." She said, and then she heaved a long sigh. "Until we meet again." he friends all came up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you for staying with me tonight, everyone." She gave Ambrosias one last pat on the head, then the group disappeared.

Sarah heaved a sigh then stretched and stood from her spot on the floor. She only just noticed how cold it was and it was unhealthy for Toby. She walked to the window and peered out across the bright morning. She noticed white feathers on the tree and assumed they fell off some random bird. Shrugging it off, she closed and locked the window, then closed the blinds so as not to let the sun in. She smiled contentedly and walked over to her bed. She held Toby close and wrapped a blanket around both of them, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Just a little while later, Sarah awoke to a gentle moving around in her bed. She smiled as Toby looked down on her, silently urging her to wake up. She lifted her head and kissed him on the nose, making him giggle then she looked at her clock. She'd only gotten two more hours of sleep. She let a big yawn escape from her mouth then stretched and put her slippers on. She carried Toby downstairs with her and entered the kitchen where Irene had just put some plates of breakfast on the table. Sarah put Toby in his highchair then sat down to eat. "Good morning." She said, yawning to Irene.

"I noticed that you ended up getting to sleep after all." Irene said stiffly.

"Yeah, I did." Sarah smiled lightly. "Rehearsing usually relaxes me a bit." She finished her breakfast then went up stairs to take a shower.

Sarah stood under the hot water calmly. Hoggle wanted her help in finding out who the attackers were. Let's see, like the dark, black skin, pointy ears. She'd never heard of anything like that in all of the storybooks she'd read over the years. When she finished, she turned off the water and went into her bedroom. She searched her closet for something decent to wear to the library. She found a light blue off-shoulder crop top with ¾ sleeves. She smiled and then pulled out a stonewashed mini skirt, light blue leggings, and dark blue leg warmers. After getting dressed, she slipped into some blue heels then walked over to her vanity and did her hair and makeup and added accessories. When she decided that she was pleased with the way she look, she stood up from her vanity and walked downstairs.

"I'm going to the library!" She called to Irene as she walked out the door. Merlin ran up beside her and she shook her head. "I'll take you for a walk later, but you're not allowed to go to the library." She scratched the dog behind his ear and watched him bound back over to the garage.

After a 15 minute or so walk to the library, Sarah grabbed one of the computers and typed in the characteristics of these mysterious attackers. "Hoggle, you owe me one…" She muttered to herself as she watched a very long list of books appear on the search. She sighed and tried to figure out how she could narrow her list down. After a moment, she thought of a way and typed into a new search "darkness, black skin, pointy ears, goblins" she smiled as a list of only a few books remained.

She added the books to a list, then printed the list and went through the fantasy section, where the books were located. The first book, she noticed, had the title **Big Book of Mythical Creatures and People by Pricilla Maitland. **When she found the book, it was certainly big indeed. It was about 2 inches in width and 6 inches in length. She sighed lightly then went on to the next book that read **Celtic Myths, Lore, and Prophecies by G.A. Torres.** This book was extremely smaller in size and she smiled.

Her hands would be full enough carrying the bigger book that she had. She continued scanning the area of her list of books, when she found them all, she decided to look around a little bit more and see if something else caught her eye. After finding a few more, she carried all the books to the counter and checked them out, then, holding her two bags of books, she walked home. It was nearing noon by the time she got home and the moment she set her things up in her bedroom, Irene called her down to lunch.

Once Sarah decided that she was done, she walked upstairs and locked herself in to read. She noticed her blinds were still down and she opened them, and then moved them out of the way of the window. She opened the window and turned on some light classical music to help her read. When the books were out of their bags and onto shelves, she noted that she was not going to touch that bigger book until she read some of the other ones first. The books were an easy read for the most part. Sarah had a notepad next to her writing down names and characteristics of creatures that could possibly have a hand in attacking the Underground. She tucked her pen behind her ear then took a deep breath and stretched. She had just finished another book and wanted to take a break.

She walked downstairs to get a glass of orange juice and noted that the time was nearing six o' clock pm. She wasn't surprised. She had a tendency to have long bouts of time locked in her room and so involved in a story that time seemed to fly by willingly. She was at least a third through the books that she checked out.

"Sarah." Irene said from the kitchen. "Dinner will be finished in about a half an hour. Sarah nodded and poured herself a glass of orange juice. "Alright, I'll be up in my room studying."

It wasn't a lie. Sarah was studying; probably not the kind of studying that Irene had expected of her, but studying nonetheless. She walked up to her room and set her glass on her nightstand next to her bed. The book called **Celtic Myths, Lore, and Prophecies **lay open on her bed to a certain page. Sarah thought it was slightly odd, considering that she didn't remember leaving one of the books open when she left. She shrugged lightly and picked up the book and turned to the table of contents. She skimmed it and saw two titles "The Labyrinth" and "The Goblin King". She turned at first to the one that read "The Labyrinth" and skimmed through the prophecy. After she was done, she stared at it wide-eyed. It had predicted her beating Jareth! She turned back to the beginning of the book and looked at the publishing information. It was published just 20 years prior. Reluctantly, she turned to the passage that read "The Goblin King." And began to read.

Sorry guys. The cliffy was just begging to be used. Thanks to my awesome friend, the Enigmatic Marcus L. Jones for giving me an idea of what to use as the mysterious attackers. But those are for me to know and you to find out! :p

I want to thank everyone who added me as a favorite and commented my stories. Knowing people are enjoying them is what's keeping me going right now. And I'm really sorry for the late update. This week has been crazy like, majorly. I've started working on a report that needs to be AT LEAST 5 pages long and it's due with a bunch of other stuff by May 9. And since my grade is seriously riding on this essay, I want to make it a little more than 5 pages and I also want to make it sound really cool with a bunch of statstics and everything. Mutters obsenities about Jane Shaffer format writing and stalks off to work on my report.


	4. Sei Gia Bella

OMG! I'm sooooooo sorry that it's taken so long to get up! I've been really busy with choir stuff and projects, and essays. Life has been really hectic. But I had some extra time on my hands this morning (despite not getting home from a competition until 1am) to finish up Chapter 4 for you. And as a special thank you present, I made this chapter 2 times as long. So instead of 4 or five pages long, I wrote 8 and like, 2 lines of 9 pages for you guys. I hope you like it! I was stretching it to make it worth while. I hope it worked. And "Sylistra the scholar", shhh, next time don't give it away. ;)

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The first lines of the prophecy continued from the one before it.

"…_She who walks with dignity and strength shall defeat the Goblin King…"_

But then it led on to a different, continued prophecy.

"…_And she shall rule over the Goblin Realm beside the Goblin King, She_

_ shall have an heir, she shall assist the king in keeping peace within the kingdom,_

_ and the king shall love her with a love that could tame the Wild Sea. Alas, a_

_ great war shall break out. A war of neighbor against neighbor, and kinsman_

_ against kinsman. People of the Underground will face certain destruction. The_

_ Queen must protect, but she be a mere mortal. She will become a prisoner of the_

_ Underdark, and she will die a mortal death, and the creatures of the Underground will perish."_

Sarah stared blankly at the prophecy. It was another one about Jareth and her.

"Hoggle! Sir Didymus! Ludo! I need you!" She said, panicked.

Her friends appeared, just as she had asked. When they saw her abandoned-looking features, they all exchanged glances and braced themselves for the worst. Sarah slid the prophecy book toward her friends and they all read.

"So what does it mean?" she asked quietly, already partly knowing the answer.

Sarah lay on her bed as her friends read the prophecy over and over again, exchanging glances and discussing with their eyes about what the prophecy could mean. The sky stared down, quietly, gloomily, observing the scene below. Sarah stood up slowly and walked downstairs. She took her jacket from the coat rack and left the house toward the garage. A walk with Merlin would probably do her well and the cool air would clear her thoughts. In her mind, she could just picture the look that Irene and her father would give her for walking out of the house so late at night, but at this point, she didn't care. When she arrived at the garage, she opened the door quietly and whispered to Merlin.

"Merlin! Come on, Boy! Let's go for a walk." Merlin bounded out happily and Sarah smiled and bent down to scratch him behind his ear. "Good boy, Merlin! Now let's go!"

She felt something heavy in her hand and looked down at the book she had unknowingly grabbed when she left the room. It was the book about different creatures that she had found at the library. She sighed lightly and stood up then began walking to the park. It was no use taking it inside or she wouldn't be able to come back out again. Merlin followed his master gingerly, taking every step with her. Although Sarah meant to go to the park, her feet took her somewhere else. They took her to the open clearing in the park where she loved to play "Fairytale" and pretend to be a famous actress, just like her mother. She sat on a bench and set the book in her lap. Merlin hopped up next to her and nuzzled his head into her arm. Something was missing, Sarah noticed. She looked around and instantly realized what it was. The white barn owl that had always sat in a tree was no longer there. It was Jareth. She thought, casually. Of course it wouldn't be here anymore. He has no power over me. He never will. Somehow, though, the words no longer brought her comfort. If Jareth had no power over her, then why was he back? After only a few days, why was he back?

Pushing the thought to the back of her head, she looked down at her book. Merlin was lying down next to her with his head on her lap next to the book and was sleeping. Sarah felt comfort in the fact that Merlin was always there for her, and it gave her courage to open the book before her. But what was she supposed to look for? It would take forever to search through this entire book.

"_It's only forever. Not long at all…"_

"Shut up Jareth." She muttered to herself.

She thought about the prophecy she read and the word "Underdark" kept sticking out in her mind. She turned toward the index and found the word, then flipped to the first page number she saw. "Dark Elves" was the title of the chapter. She sighed and braced herself to read. This had to be it because it sounded nothing like creatures from the Underground. As she read, she discovered secrets about the Dark Elves that she couldn't even imagine. They loved beauty, but why would they attack the Underground? There were only a few beautiful places in the Underground, from her experience. And the Bog of Stench; why would they want to attempt to take over a world with such an ugly and disgusting place? They were skilled at armed combat, a good match for the Goblins. She read things about spiders being pets and gagged at the idea. Spiders were not one of her favorite things. They used poisons very often (Sarah made a mental note about that. It would be helpful to possibly come up with an antidote for some of them) and they also favored armor. But that was only the half of it. Once Sarah read all that she possibly could before going home for dinner, she closed the book and woke up Merlin.

"Well, come on, Merlin. Hoggle is waiting for me."

She sighed and stood up. When she saw the time, she had to run back home in order for her not to be late. Irene didn't like her being late. She got Merlin back into the garage and was able to sneak back up to her room and say hi to her friends before being called down for dinner.

"I found some things out." She said, reluctantly. "I'll tell you after dinner." She made a mental note to bring some left over dinner to give to her friends while Irene and everyone else were asleep for the night. Once the door was closed, the friends looked at each other. They sighed dejectedly and called for Jareth. He appeared in a puff of white, prideful and irritated at their summoning.

"Well, what do you want?" He asked.

"What are you trying to do to the Fair Maiden, His Majesty?" Asked Didymus.

"Yeah, why you want Sarah back? Haven't you had enough?" Hoggle said, angry and irritated.

"Sawah, sad…" Ludo said, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Now listen hear, you fools! You are still my subjects and you will do as I say! My intentions are none of your concern!" Jareth nearly yelled.

"Sarah is our friend…and we won't do nuttin' to harm her!"

The argument lasted awhile. Meanwhile, downstairs, Sarah and her family were having a quiet dinner.

"Well, how did your studying go, Sarah?" Irene asked casually.

"It was fine." Sarah answered. It wasn't true. She hated every moment of it, but she accepted it nonetheless; if not for Jareth, then for her friends. She would never see them again if she didn't do it.

"What did you study?" asked Irene, trying her hardest to keep a conversation with her. "You weren't just reading silly fairytales again, were you?" Irene said, not rudely, although it sounded like it. That wasn't the wisest thing to say in the first place.

"I don't have any real homework or studying to do over Spring Break, so why not read my books? You can't very well stop me!" Sarah shouted. It was that sort of thing that automatically put Sarah on her guard. "I'll excuse myself now!" She slid her chair out and put her cleaned plate in the sink then stormed up to her room, finding a very unpleasant surprise.

Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Jareth were still arguing when the door slammed open, revealing a very angry and surprised Sarah. Jareth smirked.

"Ah, well, hello Sarah." It was a calm and collected, yet vain tone of voice. He began to pace around her as she shut her door and stood with her arms crossed. "Well, well, this is a pleasant turn of events." Jareth eyed the girl greedily. "You're keeping quiet for once."

"Leave." Was all Sarah uttered.

"I think not, Sarah. After all, I've heard that you've some information that I need to know about my kingdom." He stopped pacing and stood in front of the girl, arms crossed and towering menacingly over her.

"The information isn't for you. It's for Hoggle." She knew that it sounded stupid, that it would eventually get to Jareth anyway. But she refused to give in to his will.

"As I recall, Hogwart isn't the one who is running the Underground." Jareth said, irritated. This girl was certainly something. But isn't that what made him fall in love with her in the first place?

"It's Hoggle!" Sarah shouted before Hoggle got a chance to answer.

"Sarah, give him the information so he can leave!" Hoggle said, defiantly. Where his courage came from, he had no idea. But it was there, and he was going to use it before it went away again.

Sarah shot a glare at the Goblin King, but nodded and walked around him to her desk where she set down the book. She opened the book and made a handwritten copy of the entire chapter, word for word, and handed it to Jareth.

"Now leave." Sarah said.

"Now, now, Sarah, is that any way to say 'good-bye' to your king?" Jareth said, amused.

"You're not my king."

"Ah, I beg to differ." He held up the book of prophecy and smirked as he pointed to the most recently written prophecy. "What's said is said."

"None of that first part came true, Jareth. You and I both know that very well."

"I would have thought that you'd know by now, Sarah, that you can't take anything for granted in the Underground." With that, the Goblin King changed to an owl and flew out the window. The prophecy book lay in a heap on her bed and Sarah picked it up and read over it, multiple times.

"What did he mean?" She asked her friends. "What did he mean by I shouldn't take this prophecy for granted?"

The friends looked at each other once more and Sir Didymus spoke up. "My Lady, did you ever think about what would happen if you had accepted His Majesty's gift?"

"Which one?" Sarah asked, distractedly.

"The last one, My Lady; when you left us so you could face the King alone. His gift was his offer. He told you he would give you your dreams, that he would be your slave."

Sarah shuddered at the memory, but she admitted that yes, she did think about it. "But he had Toby. If I had accepted, he would have kept Toby from me. He would have turned Toby into a goblin. I couldn't allow that to happen to him. What else should I have done?"

"My Lady, what did you think about when you thought about the King's gift?"

"I thought about becoming his Queen." She said sadly. Hoggle looked disappointed, but Sir Didymus urged her on. "I imagined helping him rule, and I imagined Toby as his heir." As she spoke, she realized what the prophecy was saying. In horror, she looked at Sir Didymus. "It can't have happened though? I haven't physically been in the Underground since the day I defeated him."

"My Lady, you've been doing it the entire time. When we come here and ask you for advice, it's because His Majesty cannot help us. You help him to keep the peace in the Underground without the realization of what you do."

"What about Toby? Toby isn't his heir."

This time Hoggle and Sir Didymus both looked worried.

"Um…Sarah…Jareth…"

"Well….you see, Madam…"

"Jareth…marked Toby as his heir while you were running the Labyrinth. He was really sure that he would win."

"He, what?" Sarah was on her feet now. "Of all the conceited, irresponsible…that's cheating! Jareth, you lousy cheat!" Frustrated, she fell onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. "Grow up!" She heard a far off chuckle and glared into the empty space before her. "I'll never forgive you for this, Jareth. You can't have Toby!"

She looked at the book forlornly. Was this Fate? Fate was such a strong word. The word confused her. It was used so often in her fairytales, but she never fully understood the word's true meaning? She had always wanted to live that perfect fairytale. She had a chance at it, but she turned the chance down. Wasn't that Fate? Or was it Fate that she had stayed with the Goblin King? If that were the case, had she defied Fate? But if she had defied Fate, then why was Jareth back? Would this prophecy have been written, had she accepted his offer in the Escher Room? What if she caused this war to happen? Was this entirely her fault? But what would happen if Sarah had accepted his offer? Would she have still been able to keep Toby? What would her parents say when they found her gone? Would they have missed her? Would they have missed Toby, had he been able to stay in the Underground with her? Would they have even noticed?

"Sawah…" Ludo's voice broke into Sarah's thoughts.

Sarah smiled weakly at Ludo. Poor Ludo; He had been quiet the entire time. She stood up and hugged Ludo.

"Don't worry, Ludo. I'll be ok. We'll find a way to fix this, I promise." She sighed, defeated. "Well, it looks like I'll have another trip through the Labyrinth." She was just now accepting her new Fate. Whatever her old one was was gone. She didn't know what she would do with Toby, though. She had only just been reunited with him, and now she had to leave him behind again. But she couldn't bring him back to the Labyrinth. There was no telling what Jareth would do with him.

* * *

..and of course when I run out of ideas I just HAVE to bring my irritatiing, radical, dreamer views into the picture..

Well, I hope you liked this chapter. It took awhile to write, but I hope it was worth your while.


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